Pre-packaged cookie dough might taste lovely, but you should resist the temptation until it has been properly baked if you want to avoid getting an E. coli infection, researchers from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) reported in Clinical Infectious Diseases. The authors explain that the 2009 outbreak of STEC (Shiga toxin-producing E. coli) which affected several US states was caused by commercial prepackaged cookie dough.More...

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" Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts." - Daniel Moynihan

I've never allowed my kids to eat raw cookie dough or cake batter. My mother lets them when I'm not around and it bugs me. Anything that contains eggs should'nt be eaten until cooked, imo.

From what I've been reading on the subject, you're absolutely correct, kittymom. E Coli can be especially dangerous to children, the elderly and those with a compromised immune system. I've noticed there's "Cookie Dough" ice cream sold in the stores, that could be eaten instead of raw cookie dough that was made with the intention of being baked. On the other hand, if some see "Cookie Dough" ice cream, will people assume it's okay to eat real raw cookie dough? People need to use common sense for sure. My husband doesn't worry about things like eating raw eggs, food out of date or been in the fridge for a bit (I toss it and he wonders why) he rolls his eyes when I go around wiping down remotes, door knobs etc. with disinfectant wipes, because he's one of those that believes what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I don't want to be all OCD about some of these things, but sometimes it's just basic cleanliness and food safety. JMHO

That's one of the CDC's top lessons from the 2009 E. coli O157:H7 outbreak in refrigerated Nestle Toll House cookie dough products.

During the outbreak, 77 people in 30 states became ill after eating the dough before baking it. Of these, 35 people were hospitalized. The outbreak prompted a recall of 3.6 million packages of cookie dough and some changes in the way that Nestle and other companies manufacture their cookie dough.

That was the first time an E. coli outbreak was traced to ready-to-bake commercial prepackaged cookie dough. The details of the outbreak and steps taken to control it appear in Clinical Infectious Diseases.

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" Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts." - Daniel Moynihan

My hubby is a computer guy. I tell him all the time that he should carry hand sanitizer in his pants pockets and use it after working at someone's desk. I think he;s starting to take me serious. The past two times that he's been really sick was after he worked at the desk of someone who was out sick. I tell him that people will cough and sneeze on their desks when no one is watching. Even if they cover their mouths, they then pick up their phones, pens, touch their mouse, keyboard, etc without washing. He used to pick on me about being paranoid about germs. I told him I'd rather be paranoid and healthy than gullible and sick. lol

My hubby is a computer guy. I tell him all the time that he should carry hand sanitizer in his pants pockets and use it after working at someone's desk. I think he;s starting to take me serious. The past two times that he's been really sick was after he worked at the desk of someone who was out sick. I tell him that people will cough and sneeze on their desks when no one is watching. Even if they cover their mouths, they then pick up their phones, pens, touch their mouse, keyboard, etc without washing. He used to pick on me about being paranoid about germs. I told him I'd rather be paranoid and healthy than gullible and sick. lol

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" Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts." - Daniel Moynihan

To the dismay of teenage girls everywhere, researchers who investigated a 2009 outbreak of E. coli that sprang from tubes of Nestlé's Toll House raw cookie dough are advising people to bake their cookies before eating them.

The 2009 outbreak was the first to link E. coli O157:H7 with ready-to-bake prepackaged cookie dough (it was again linked to E. coli in January 2010). From March to July 2009, 77 people in 30 states were sickened in the outbreak; 55 were hospitalized. Two-thirds of those who fell ill were under 19, and 71% were female. Many said they'd bought cookie dough with no intention of ever cooking it.

Reporting [PDF] on Friday in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, the researchers, led by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention epidemiologist Dr. Karen Neil, came to two conclusions:

Manufacturers should consider formulating ready-to-bake commercial prepackaged cookie dough to be as safe as a ready-to-eat product. More effective consumer education about the risks of eating unbaked cookie dough is needed.

Investigators launched an extensive traceback effort at the time of the outbreak, including laboratory and environmental analyses, to identify its origin. Although it led to the recall of 3.6 million packages of cookie dough, researchers were unable to pinpoint any single ingredient, vehicle or production process as the source of the contamination.The eggs used in ready-to-bake cookie dough are pasteurized, which rendered them an unlikely culprit. Other ingredients like molasses, sugar, baking soda and margarine all undergo "kill steps" during processing, which eliminates pathogens. Chocolate chips — which have been implicated in outbreaks of food-borne illness in the past — were another suspect ingredient, but in this case it turned out that chocolate chip cookie dough was less strongly associated with E. coli illness than other cookie-dough flavors.

The investigators ultimately settled on flour as the likely offender. Flour doesn't usually undergo a kill step. Also, because it is frequently purchased in large quantities by food manufacturers for use in products, a single purchase of contaminated flour could have been used in multiple lots and varieties of cookie dough over a period of time.

The authors conclude that foods containing raw flour should be considered possible vehicles for E. coli outbreaks in the future, and encourage manufacturers to consider using heat-treated or pasteurized flour in any ready-to-cook products that consumers may choose to eat raw, despite package label instructions warning against it.More...

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" Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts." - Daniel Moynihan

OMG...I let my kids play with homemade 'playdough' all the time!!! It never fails someone would stick a finger in their mouth before washing up. YIKES. What's the saying....damned if you do and damned if you don't.